


Meta - Sentinel Too;  Why Did Blair Go?

by Mab (Mab_Browne)



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Character Study, Episode Related, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-13
Updated: 2008-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-13 03:37:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15355380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mab_Browne/pseuds/Mab
Summary: Some thoughts inspired by Jane Davitt's story, Emptiness.  While Jane's story is slashy, my thoughts are fairly general in nature, albeit likely biased in the slash direction.





	Meta - Sentinel Too;  Why Did Blair Go?

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Elaine, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Artifact Storage Room 3](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Artifact_Storage_Room_3) and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Artifact Storage Room 3’s collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/artifactstorageroom3/profile).
> 
>  **Author's notes:** Sometimes the fun with meta examination is what other people found to say. The link leads to my original LJ post. Gen fans may find points of interest, but much of the comment is by slashers and may reflect a slashy cast of mind.
> 
>  
> 
> [My Livejournal entry](http://mab-browne.livejournal.com/156521.html#cutid1)

I wrote a fb comment for Jane Davitt's short fic Emptiness (here at ASR3 if you want to check it out), and we touched in passing as to why Blair might have left, instead of staying as in her lovely AU snippet. I set out to express my ideas and realised it was going to be just a little long for a live journal comment so it became a Live Journal post and now a short essay here.

As Jane put it, her story is an indulgence fic. Sentoo is a pretty painful episode - the boys at odds, the cliff-hanger scene at the fountain. Jane's story fixes it. But much as I loved the story, I also went, "But..."

One reason is that part of me is in love with Blair not actually being the all-knowing sentinel expert. He is winging it big time, and not always getting it right. We don't get to see the failed experiments and theories so much in canon. :-) In Flight he doesn't know why Jim is having problems with his senses. Sentoo really plays this up for me, that Blair is blind-sided by any number of his theories going down the gurgler, and by his discovery that he doesn't have info to fill the gaps left behind. So I think that part of his leaving when Jim orders it is just shock and surprise. Plus, 'my' Blair has doormat tendencies with two people - his mother and Jim. And also, yes, I think that there's a tit for tat motion there following the first shock of hurt. 'You want me gone, man? I'm gone, and see how well you manage without me!' 

So that's evening of day 1. Based on an interpretation of the transcripts on Becky's page, evening of day 2 Megan and Blair call in and find Jim in the empty loft. Evening of day 3 Alex breaks into Blair's office and finds the tapes. Next night is the night Alex murders Blair. (Corrections or suggestions to this timeline gratefully accepted.) We canonically see Blair trying to approach Jim on his being pushed out of the loft, but Jim is preoccupied with the case and his weird emotions. So that's roughly three full days. You could argue that Blair is giving Jim his space, which is a hell of a mistake and one that he suffers for, but equally Jim is focused on the case and not interested in the personal stuff. Blair probably isn't accustomed to that because yes, Jim grouches, but when push comes to shove he usually accepts the shove from Blair. Rogue. Warriors. Out of the Past. There's a couple of full-body contact situations to try to calm Jim down, for example, Killers or Vendetta. This episode my impression is that Jim is being more intransigent than Blair's accustomed to.

Also, while Blair slept at a motel, we have no idea where he put his stuff. It's implied that Blair took it with him, but we don't really know. For all we know in canon, Blair may simply have lugged it back into his room, still in its boxes. He may have placed it some storage space, such as the basement which makes its regular appearance in fanon.

My personal fanon is that Warriors was an epiphany episode for Blair, where he first starts really seeing the issues that surround the dissertation, and starts realising just how emotionally attached he is to Jim. Sentoo 1 is, I'll argue out of my shippy little heart, the ep where Jim truly hurts Blair by apparently not wanting his help, and so Blair goes to ground. On other occasions, such as Flight, where Jim has tried to put the kibosh on Blair's involvement, Blair can plainly see that Jim's motivation is concern for Blair's safety. Here, Blair doesn't know Jim's motivations because Jim likely barely knows them himself. However, given that he makes Blair leave after the dream where Jim shoots the wolf/Blair, I'd presume that concern for Blair's safety is at least one motivation in the confusion. However, Blair doesn't know about that. Canonically, we never know if Jim tells Blair about that dream.

In the beginning of the series, Blair is essentially looking out for his chance and he has no scruples about bulling his way into Jim's life. But as time goes by, as the relationship develops between the two men, Blair might well have a different set of priorities which lead to his acceptance (even if temporary) of Jim's whacked out decision. The scene in Sentoo 2 where Blair says of Jim's visions, "What are you doing messing around with me?" makes me all angsty and sad, because it's proof that Blair doubts his value - which is an emotion which won't be improved by the beach scene afterwards.

So my personal fanon is a growing concern about the diss and Blair's place in Jim's life, plus sheer surprise, plus pique equals the (wrong) decision to give Jim his space. And we all know what came out of that. Spirit merges, angst up the wazoo, and more fandom plot bunnies than you can shake a stick at.


End file.
